Related Series

Support Us

Roundup is one of the most widely used pesticides in the world. But it increases the incidence of disease in fish, a new study shows. And yet it looks like the government is about to greatly expand the U.S. acreage where it is applied by approving planting of vast swaths of genetically engineered alfalfa. These “Roundup-Ready” hayfields worry opponents of GE foods, and this latest news about the effect on fish is bound to stir the pot some more. (The opportunity for public comment on allowing GE alfalfa ends soon, btw.)

The new fish study, out of New Zealand, showed that when applied at recommended rates on fields near a freshwater stream, Roundup didn’t kill young freshwater fish outright. Score one point for Monsanto, Roundup’s manufacturer.

However, what Roundup did at this relatively dilute concentration was to increase the production of worm that’s a parasite of the fish, and comes from a particular snail. And the combination of more parasites and moderate levels of Roundup – aka “glyphosate” – produced what scientists called “significantly reduced fish survival.” They concluded:

“This is the first study to show that parasites and glyphosate can act synergistically on aquatic vertebrates at environmentally relevant concentrations, and that glyphosate might increase the risk of disease in fish. Our results have important implications when identifying risks to aquatic communities and suggest that threshold levels of glyphosate currently set by regulatory authorities do not adequately protect freshwater systems.”

I haven’t been able to access the full paper yet, but the Conservation Maven blog did, and they quote an interesting observation from the New Zealand scientists regarding the timing of Roundup applications:

“The timing of the application of glyphosate formulations is often in spring, coinciding with the period of larval fish emergence and early susceptibility to parasite infection; and early fish life stages are highly susceptible to environmental stressors.”

Now, on to the alfalfa: Melissa Allison has a story in today’s Seattle Times saying that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is collecting the last public comment on its proposal to allow genetically engineered alfalfa hayfields. She reports:

“Roundup Ready alfalfa was on the market briefly beginning in 2005 and can still be grown on the 200,000 acres that were initially planted nationwide. A court halted further sales until the USDA’s environmental analysis is completed, a decision Monsanto questioned in a separate case that will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court later this year.Sugar-beet farmers are seeking a similar injunction against Roundup Ready sugar beets in federal court this week.”

We’ve touched before on the push to promote GE foods as the answer to widespread hunger around the world. It seems that the United States is pretty much going ahead no matter what other countries think. It’s pretty clear that’s where USDA is headed, since its preliminary decision is that “no significant impact on the human environment.”

And as we all know, it’s only the human environment that matters. right?

— Robert McClure

Read Next

An interesting study out today (PDF) concludes that logging in Western forests ravaged by pine beetles not only doesn’t do much to prevent wildfires – it also wastes precious government dough that could be used instead to actually protect the homes of those folks foolish enough to build in fire-prone forests.This particular study comes out of Colorado, which is described as the “epicenter” of the pine-beetle outbreak, although I think I wouldn’t have a lot of trouble finding folks in British Columbia who would dispute that characterization. And it’s reminiscent of the findings in Oregon following massive fires there a few years ago: That coming in and “salvaging timber” actually disrupts the natural processes that govern forests the way God made them.This newest report, spearheaded by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, points out that insect outbreaks have been a part of forest ecology in the West for millennia. It also details how it’s climate, high temperatures and the sparse amount of water in our changing Western climate that are primarily responsible for the beetle outbreaks. Harvesting beetle-mauled trees does not head off climate change. Perhaps even the opposite is true? It's particularly damaging to do this kind of post-beetle tree-cutting in roadless areas, sacrificing longterm ecological integrity for short-term profits and roads that pierce into formerly intact wilderness areas, the report argues.